To Admire

• regard (an object , quality , or person with respect of warm approval)

 Ex: ” I admire your courage”

•  look with pleasure

 Ex: “We were just admiring your garden”

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Google did a swell job of defining what it really means to admire.

BUT … Yes, there’s a but!

There was not one aspect of that meaning that encompassed loving yourself at all. This is an issue in our world today, there is not enough emphasis put on women admiring themselves.

Enough is never enough! Meaning just because one person might have said “Admire Yourself” that doesn’t mean it has been heard and is being done.

Society is way too focused on the latest celebrity fashion trends and which celebrity just got checked into rehab. Who the heck cares? These people aren’t teaching you to admire who you are but instead give them ” public attention” which they yearn for.

As a Black Latina, I am told each and every day in order to be beautiful I have to be a negative size two in jeans.

I am told that I have to have blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin in order to fit into beauty standards in this country.

I am told in order to be a beautiful black woman I have to have light-skin, soft curly hair and a skinny waist with a nice butt ,that’s just right.

I am told in order to be a beautiful Latina I have to have white skin, long hair and speak fluent Spanish .

So it is enough I don’t fit into America’s cultural definition of beauty and as a minority I don’t fit into society’s classification of what is beauty. This is ridiculous why can’t I just be told to just admire myself however I am.

Society has designed this checklist of what makes a woman beautiful in each culture in each community in each ethnic group and it is disappointing.

 In order to be considered a beautiful American I have to look like:

In order to be considered a beautiful Latina woman I have to look like:

 In order to be considered a beautiful Black woman I have to look like:

How about in order to be considered a beautiful woman there is no consideration?

 How about there is no definition of what beauty is?

My shape, my color or hair texture has literally nothing to do with anything. It is crucial to admire yourself and express your beauty however you want. Whether you have orange hair and freckles or thick hair and extra layers.

As an Afro-Latina I see no ideal or definitions of what defines beauty in my community as of yet. And I only hope to never see that as time goes on.

 

So Admire Your Own Beauty!

-Signed Jenay